Sunday, June 11, 2006

Scientific Uke Lutherie

Dave Means makes gorgeous custom ukes under the Glyph name. He adds all kinds of flourishes that connect the instrument to the owner. Of note, he's made a custom concert for Ben Thompson, a teacher and founder of the George Fox Middle School Ukulele Ensemble. Thompson has used the uke with his students to build awareness of the Chesapeake Bay sub-aquatic ecosystem. The fretboard on Ben's uke shows (among other critters) a blue crab hiding among endangered submerged aquatic grasses (celery grass and redhead grass).

Or how about this spruce-topped Mahogany "Double-Helix" concert that Dave built for microbiologist Paul Goodrich. Presumably, you'd tune it in both D and A. (Sorry.)